Summary: Excel reports on Unix
Jay Fishel
Excel reports on Solaris. I still didn't find a solution which would
work for me (and btw I actually need it on several Unix platforms)
so the question is still open, I address it to a couple of other unix groups
as well this time - I hope that someone actually does it on Unix:
Q: What can I use to generate Excel reports on Unix in unattended (batch)
mode, suitable for web posting, with high performance, with binary (xls)
output,
supplying the data from mixed sources (e.g. DBs, flat files)?
Anyway, for those who are interested in the subject here is
the summary of what I've got so far, maybe something will
work for you (and I explain why these options are not for me):
1. Perl with WriteExcel module:
Low performance. I have to do massive report generation.
2. HTML ->Excel - not an option, I need to deliver "native" binary Excel
to the end users.
3. StarOffice - does not "generate" Excel, you create it the same way as
in MS Excel itself. I need it be generated automatically - in batch mode,
with the data I supply.
4. Generate CSV and write Excel macro which would process it:
Obvious from above, not an option at all, I need any end user be able
to open any Excel document I produce, without any macros.
I.e., I need a generic solution for creating binary (xls) files
with acceptable performance.
--
Jay
Val Nets
Oh, man... I remember myself trying to find something like that.
And I did finally, so you're lucky today :-)
What meets your description is Aware Reports, you can pull it
from www.awarereports.com
They work fine on several unixes, and I tried it on windows, too,
must say that even there they don't have anyone close to their
performance, despite all microsoft's help ;-)
They are template-based, you create a template and supply the
data to the template processor, and they produce real xls.
The data can come from anywhere -- you extract it yourself,
using whatever you usually do. Coool. Try it, and feel free to ask me
if you have problems -- I'm very experienced, over month now ;-)))
Val.
"Jay Fishel" <vze4...@verizon.net> wrote in message
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Dan Espen
Please crosspost correctly.
See my response in comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.misc.
those who know me have no need of my name
in comp.unix.misc i read:
>Thanks everybody for the answers to my question about generating
>Excel reports on Solaris. I still didn't find a solution which would
>work for me (and btw I actually need it on several Unix platforms)
>so the question is still open, I address it to a couple of other unix groups
>as well this time - I hope that someone actually does it on Unix:
you need to generate a `foreign' format (one that changes at whim) file and
worse the results must apparently be usable without any brain activity at
the receiving side. that's a poor situation. you will probably need an ms
windows server running software that you can use as a filter.
--
bringing you boring signatures for 17 years
Joe Bloggs
How about Actuate? Runs on Solaris, HP-UX, AIX.
Likely you'll want the e.spreadsheet option too.
http://www.actuate.com/products/server/actuateserver/overview.asp
Philip Brown
>Thanks everybody for the answers to my question about generating
>Excel reports on Solaris. I still didn't find a solution which would
>Anyway, for those who are interested in the subject here is
>the summary of what I've got so far, maybe something will
>work for you (and I explain why these options are not for me):
>
>2. HTML ->Excel - not an option, I need to deliver "native" binary Excel
> to the end users.
I doubt it. Dont specify mechanism, specify functionality.
What *functionality* do you need?
For example, some people claim that MUST HAVE "microsoft word format"
stuff. But their real requirement is, "have it so it kinda looks like one,
and when you double-click on it, M$-word opens it up."
In those cases, you can mostly just save a .html file as a .doc, and
Ms-word will silently open it up and format it appropriately.
Unless you're writing a commercial program whose explicit goal is
"pass binary file validation checks for excel", the above type of
workaround should be fine for you.
If you ARE writing a commercial program, then go talk to microsoft.
--
http://www.blastwave.org/ for solaris pre-packaged binaries with pkg-get
Sign up to maintain a package for your own favourite software!
[Trim the no-bots from my address to reply to me by email!]
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John D Groenveld
Jay Fishel <vze4...@verizon.net> wrote:
>2. HTML ->Excel - not an option, I need to deliver "native" binary Excel
> to the end users.
What's a "native binary" ?
John
groe...@acm.org
mw487
> Q: What can I use to generate Excel reports on Unix in unattended (batch)
> mode, suitable for web posting, with high performance, with binary (xls)
> output,
> supplying the data from mixed sources (e.g. DBs, flat files)?
>
>
> 1. Perl with WriteExcel module:
> Low performance. I have to do massive report generation.
>
How do you characterize the low performance? I find it pretty damn
fast. Perhaps the problem is in perl overhead like start-up and
module loading, which could be overcome with a web system using
mod_perl, or by optimizing the report generation in some other way.
those who know me have no need of my name
in comp.unix.misc i read:
>"Jay Fishel" <vze4...@verizon.net> wrote in message
>news:<TUXX9.200$8c...@nwrddc02.gnilink.net>...
>> 1. Perl with WriteExcel module:
>> Low performance. I have to do massive report generation.
>>
>
>How do you characterize the low performance? I find it pretty damn
>fast. Perhaps the problem is in perl overhead like start-up and
>module loading, which could be overcome with a web system using
>mod_perl,
or speedycgi, which doesn't demand a web environment.